1. Field of The Invention
The present invention relates to a calibration system for a weighing scale that has an electrical and/or optical force, transducer generating signals corresponding to the weight of an object that has been placed on a scale. The force transducer is attached to an elastic body that is coupled to a lever system, which lever system includes a receiving means for a calibration weight. The function of the force transducer is generally performed by a strain gauge, although in principle it would also be possible to use piezoelectric or other known devices. As an optical transducer, one might consider an interferometer of an essentially known type, e.g., a Michelson interferometer.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Calibration systems of this kind are installed in weighing scales. At least at the conclusion of the manufacturing process, the scales are calibrated, and in most cases, the calibration is renewed within certain time intervals. Although the lever system has a receiving means for a calibration weight, the receiving means generally consists of the weighing pan or, in a wider sense, of the receiving means for the objects themselves that are to be weighed. This means that in some cases very heavy calibration weights have to be put on the scale or, also, that it is hardly practical to couple a calibration weight of a large mass directly to the lever system, given that the latter is generally configured as a separate built-in module. Additional difficulties arise if one attempts to effectively damp the oscillations occurring in a lever system of this type.
It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide improvements in the way lever systems of the type described above are calibrated and/or damped. According to the invention, this is accomplished by arranging the receiving means for the calibration weight on a magnifying lever, so that the force exerted by the calibration weight and/or the damper element is magnified. At least a portion of the inventive lever system, in some cases the entire system, is formed out of an elastic integral block.
Scales of the type described at the beginning are especially well suited for large weighing capacities, i.e., they are the kind of scales in which the calibration process according to the prior art is particularly difficult. However, by using a magnifying lever in an arrangement where the calibration weight and/or the force of a damper element is magnified by lever action, it is possible to use a much smaller calibration weight. As a result, lever systems and weighing scales of the kind described above can be easily calibrated and also very effectively damped by using the inventive arrangement.
Basically, two ways are conceivable in which the invention may be advantageously realized. The first way is to configure the magnifying lever together with at least a portion of the lever system, or in certain cases the entire lever system, as a lever that is cut out of and pivotally connected within an integral block, whereby the manufacture of the lever system is simplified and a more compact construction is achieved. The second way is to configure the magnifying lever as a separate lever that is attached to and extends beyond the contours of the integral block, so that the elastic integral block itself can be relatively compact and light-weight while still allowing a large lever magnification to be achieved.
In either case, if an elastic integral block is used, it is advantageous if the electrical force transducer is attached to the block rather than to a separate lever system or transmission member.
It is self-evident that lever systems of this kind in principle represent spring/mass systems and therefore have a tendency to oscillate. The invention can be very advantageously applied to alleviate this problem by means of an inductive damper element that cooperates with the (metallic) magnifying lever. In particular, the damper element comprises a permanent magnet in an arrangement where oscillation-damping eddy currents are generated in the lever.
It has been found that excellent results are obtained with an embodiment where the inductive damper element is arranged laterally alongside the lengthwise extension of the magnifying lever, although one would expect the damping force to be stronger with the magnet arranged at the transverse end face of the lever. Yet, according to the invention, the arrangement can be further developed and give even better results if at least two inductive elements are each arranged laterally on opposite sides of the lengthwise extension of the magnifying lever. xe2x80x9cAt least twoxe2x80x9d in this context means that the sides of a lever, especially a relatively large magnifying lever, offer ample space for more than two such damper elements. Also, a solution of this kind does not exclude the possibility of placing a third damper element, e.g., at the end face of the magnifying lever.
Further details of the invention are presented in the following description of embodiments that are illustrated schematically in the drawing.